What the Future Holds
by American Theorist Bros
Summary: Eren sees the pain he causes in the future. After seeing that, he demands to see what it's all for, where he sees a memory that can only be achieved if he becomes the devil the world needs.


**Hello everyone. Now, as much as I loved fanfics like A Second Chance and others like it, I wanted to do something different, but one that still resonates with the Attack on Titan themes. So, I found a good one, so, instead of looking into and changing the past, today, we are going to see What The Future Holds, under Eren Jaeger's, or Yeager's, perspective. This will probably be posted on both AO3 and FF.**

After taking back Shiganshina, Armin, Mikasa, and I rested, but we were haunted by what happened over just a single day. Erwin, most of the New Recruits, much of the New Levi Squad. Gone. Dead. Obliterated by Bertholdt, Reiner, and my supposed half-brother, Zeke.

We all had a hard time sleeping. Armin and Mikasa silently cried to the prison cell, and I didn't have the will to stop them anymore.

However, our eyes closed, and sleep eventually caught us in its spell.

My dreams, as always, were horrifying. I saw my mom being eaten by the titan form of Dina Fritz, I saw a meadow turn red. It was something that I had been shown so many times that I almost became numb to it.

However, as the dream continued, it showed memories that I hadn't seen beforehand. A blond man, named Yelena. Me transforming, killing many children. Sasha being killed by a girl I didn't know. The titans in the walls being awakened. Both Ymirs, and their true origins. It went past, like a blur. Yet, I remembered all of it.

'W… What? Why? Why will I do this?'

Then, I saw a memory of me saying, "Mikasa, I've always hated you." Then, the scene followed with me flipping over Armin onto the table, then against the wine cabinets.

In my dreams, I yelled to the founding and Attack Titan, "Tell me! Why would I do this?! WHAT IS THERE TO GAIN WITH ALL THIS DEATH?! WITH ALL THIS SUFFERING?!"

Then, the bloodshed stopped in a meadow. The sounds that came earlier were nowhere to be heard.

I looked around. I saw a single tree in a grassy field.

'Did… I come here before?'

I looked around the landscape. The slight breeze, one that flowed into my body, the painted blue sky unseparated from the ground. The Walls that I thought would exist were nowhere to be seen. The grass that swayed with the wind. I lied onto the tree, where I remember where this was.

'Home. This… is Shiganshina.'

"Jean!"

A slightly rough voice called out. I turned around, only to see the black-haired raven that always protected me run towards me with a smile that I have never seen on her face.

"Mikasa?"

She ran towards me and stopped a few inches away from the tree. I saw that despite her strength and endurance while running, she needed a few seconds to catch her breath. It took me a few seconds to see what she was wearing. She wore simple, loose clothes, but the thing that made my eyes widen with surprise was the scarf. Despite the memories I had been shown of her not wearing it, she was wearing it now.

'Wait, Jean?'

Then, it no longer felt like it was me talking. I suddenly felt like an observer.

'Jean… he… consumed me.' I didn't know what I felt. Rage, Empathy, Happiness? I couldn't tell.

Then, Mikasa looked up but frowned as she remembered where Jean and she were. "This… was where Eren and I collected firewood for the house. He… used to be so lazy, sleeping under this tree that covered him."

Her eyes started to water, which caught me off-guard.

'She… sees me like that? Even after all that I've put her through?' I didn't feel angry that she insulted me, and I didn't feel like she was patronizing me. I was just happy that she still remembered me as something other than a monster.

Then, I did what I felt like doing for so long.

I kissed her.

Moving the scarf down from her lips, using Jean's body, I wrapped his fingers around the sides of her neck and leaned into her face.

Even though I closed my eyes, I could tell she was smiling with Jean's kiss.

'She's… happy.' A grim smile appeared on my own face.

Then, I stepped out of Jean's body again.

"Yeah, I miss the bastard too." He didn't say it with the same condescension that he would usually say to my face. His voice was softer, even if his words weren't.

"Though, what happened to Krista?" Jean looked around.

I flinched. 'Krista? What?'

Then, a brown-haired, green-eyed girl came into view. She had her arms wide open, and she met both Mikasa and Jean with open arms. Mikasa cuddled her against her slightly wet shoulder, which made the girl asked,

"Mommy? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, dear." She wiped away her tears and put a smile across her own face. "I'm just… remembering things."

"Is this where you met Uncle Eren?" She pointed to the tree.

"Well, no Krista. We met when he saved my life from bad people."

Krista raised her left arm, saying, "I want to be a hero like Uncle Eren and Uncle Armin!"

Mikasa and Jean both started laughing, but a new wave of solemn overcame me.

'After all that I've done and all that I am going to do… I'm no hero.'

"No, you're not."

I turned around, no longer as Jean, to see another blond-haired girl speak to me.

"However, this world doesn't need heroes. It needs a devil who will be able to change the world."

Her mouth didn't move, yet I heard exactly what she said.

"Wait, are you…"

"Yes, I am who you think I am."

She approached me, and, for some reason, wrapped her arms around me. She buried her face into my chest, where she quietly wept.

"I have been here for over 2 Millennia, waiting for someone like you. Someone who would be able to stop the cycle."

She walked backward from me. "However, that happy memory, and you being remembered as a hero, that would only occur if you destroyed the Marleyains, and everyone else, leaving Eldians as the only race."

I remembered killing the children watching a speech, killing innocents. Killing humans like me. Losing friends.

"Is it all worth it, to help me, and to destroy the world you previously knew? Because you will have to do exactly what you were shown to do in the future. You will have to kill all those people."

I sighed. "I… don't want to kill anymore. Especially any more innocents." Then, I remembered all the people that would live. Mikasa. Jean. The newly freed Krista.

"But, I had sought out to destroy the cycle created. I need to free the Eldians from the oppression that we have suffered for so long. So… for the sake of Mikasa, Jean, Krista, and everyone else who will live after me… I will keep moving forward."

Years later

"Until my enemies are destroyed." Lightning shot up from my hand, encapsulating the prison cell and Reiner with harsh judgment.

"AND SO I PROCLAIM ON THIS DAY!"

I transformed, setting the ground ablaze, exploding outwards, emerging above Willy Tybur.

"TO THE ENEMY FORCES OF PARADIS ISLAND, A DECLARATION OF WAR!"

As he heard me explode over him, utter terror burned in his eyes, one that I crushed with my hands.

I screamed while Willy Tybur's blood soaking my Titan's skin.

I remembered the memory of Krista saying she wanted to be a hero.

'I will free Eldia, no matter what it takes, Krista. Jean. Mikasa. You three… you will be free.'

**And that's the only chapter of What the Future Holds. So, if you like it, hit like, follow my profile, and tell me what you thought of it. BYE!**


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